Flawless Surrender (The Surrender Trilogy, #2)(7)

“I’ll stay with them so you can go, Parker. You need to be with Rachel and Sawyer, and I can handle your evening chores.” The words spilled off Tanner’s tongue before he could stop them, and the relief on Rachel’s face was blinding.

Zoey frowned, and for just a moment Tanner wanted to laugh at the annoyance on her face. So Miss Carson didn’t want to spend the evening with him. Well that was certainly a change from her words years ago. He wondered if he could change her mind.

“Thank you, Tanner!” Rachel said, pausing just long enough to press a kiss to her daughter’s forehead before she followed Sawyer and the paramedics out of the barn.

Parker stepped over and ran his finger over Juliet’s tiny head. “Thank you both. Rachel looks like she’s keeping her cool, but she’s falling apart inside. Knowing you guys have it under control will keep her a little calmer. Oh, and Tanner, you can help yourself to a shirt when you get in the house.”

He tipped his hat at Zoey and then disappeared out the door leaving Tanner and the two females alone listening to the sounds of vehicles leaving.

“Well that was a lot of excitement for one day,” Zoey said with a heavy sigh.

Tanner watched her as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “He’ll be okay, you know. If it’s torn they might have to do surgery, but it will heal up in a couple of weeks.”

Zoey’s smiled tightly, “Yeah, I know you’re right. I guess we better get Juliet back inside before it gets much darker.”

Tanner glanced toward the corral doors to find the sun was almost completely set already. “Alright, you take her and I’ll get the chores done as quickly as possible.” He passed Zoey the baby. Her gasp startled him, but the heat in her eyes as she stared at his naked chest had his cock hard as iron behind his zipper. Her gaze stroked over his wide shoulders to his light pink nipples and followed the line of dark hair that split his pecks and led the way to the waistband of his jeans. The moment her view tipped to stare at the bulge behind the denim, he stopped breathing.

Zoey still wanted him.

There was no denying the flames in her blue eyes, or the flush that crept up her high cheekbones, and inside he was a mass of confusion. Physically, he wanted to eat her up. To fu-ck her until she was hoarse from screaming his name. But nothing had changed. He was still too old for her, and way too perverted. Hell, the first time he told her to get to her knees and suck his cock, she would probably bite it off. No, Zoey wasn’t for him. No matter how much they physically set each other on fire.

He cleared his throat, and her blush darkened. “I better grab a shirt first. Can you manage her without me for a bit?”

Zoey tossed that curtain of black hair arrogantly and glared at him. “For your information I’ve been babysitting since I was twelve. I can handle one tiny human without your assistance, Superman.”

“Good, because I left my cape at home,” he called out as she left with Juliet clutched to her shoulder. Tanner sat for a moment in the cooling evening air willing his erection away before he went into the house to grab a shirt. The sounds of Zoey cooing to Juliet in the nursery burned into his brain and made his hard heart clench.

He had already decided that Zoey wasn’t for him. Now he just needed to keep his distance. Even as he thought it, his inner voice scoffed.



*****



Zoey watched Tanner talking with the baby as if she was a regular little person and might respond back at any moment. Laughter built in her chest, overwhelming her discomfort at being alone with her dream guy. This wasn’t how she had intended the rest of her day to go, but then her day had been pretty fu-cked up from the beginning, so what difference did it make at this point.

“Are you going to stand over there all evening and just watch from a distance?”

Her head popped up and her blue eyes clashed with his in surprise and irritation. “I was just enjoying your rather adult conversation with an infant who hasn’t even found her toes yet.”

“Sure she has. She was sucking on them earlier. Weren’t you Julie?” Tanner bent his head and pressed a sweet kiss to the little girl’s tiny foot.

“You do realize that I would be fine with her by myself, right? You’ve already done the chores, so if you need to leave...”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Well, no, but I know how busy you are.”

Tanner’s lip curled up in a smile. “Do I make you nervous, Zoey?”

Zoey just snorted, refusing to respond to the question, but it seemed to please Tanner more.

“Good, I like knowing I keep you a little off balance. You seem to rock my world every time you get close to me.” Tanner spoke the words as he continued to play with the baby, and Zoey stared at him in shock.

“What?”

“Oh don’t play the innocent. You’re standing just out of reach, so I can’t accidentally touch you because you know that if I get my hands on you, you’ll come undone.” His tone changed and when he turned his head to stare at her pointedly, she could see his eyes were darker and his nostrils were flaring. He really was affected by her. It was a stunning revelation and one she wasn’t exactly sure she was ready to handle. “Don’t worry, I agree it’s probably for the best.”

Pain lanced through her heart, and she was reminded of the embarrassment and shame she felt when she approached him years ago. Stiffening her spine and tipping her head, she snapped at him. “I’m going to go see if there is something in the kitchen I can throw together for dinner while you keep her occupied.” Zoey spun on her heel and scurried away from the scene of domesticity that she craved more than anything else in the world.